NJ women learn secrets to break 'glass ceiling'

Rhonda Taylor-Lewis listens during a leadership class at Rutgers University for female executives that helps provide the skills needed to break into the top corporate ranks(Photo: MARK R. SULLIVAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Buy Photo

The 33-year-old manager at ProSight Specialty Insurance has three young daughters at home, but she is determined to keep working her way up the corporate ladder, worried that one misstep could stall – or even reverse – her bright career.

"I put pressure on myself in order to continue to deliver and perform and make sure I'm not falling behind," said Spinella, a Ridgewood resident.

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The four-month class is digging into the visible barriers of how to juggle a family and career. It is digging into the invisible barriers of society's traditional image of leadership. And it is underway as a presidential campaign rages with Hillary Clinton trying to become the nation's first female president and Donald J. Trump fending off allegations of sexual harassment.

"This is building a cadre of leaders who aren't at that (executive) level yet, but are going to be driving change," said Terri Boyer, executive director of Rutgers' Center for Women and Work.

Few can argue women haven't made progress since the "Mad Men" days of the 1950s and '60s. But for all of the corporate marketing campaigns emphasizing inclusion, the numbers show women have scarcely made a dent at the highest levels of corporate America.

Even though women have almost 52 percent of professional-level jobs, they account for just 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, 14.6 percent of executive officers and 16.9 percent of directors at Fortune 500 companies, according to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning research group.

Businesswomen from several New Jersey companies, ranging from Johnson & Johnson to ADP, attended class one day last week, searching for answers. Their careers can be easily sidetracked when they leave the work force to have children. And their careers can be stifled by harassing bosses and co-workers, husbands and boyfriends, who can chip away at their confidence.

But Elaine Zundl, research director for the Center for Women and Work, said their role in the workplace has been solidified through cultural stereotypes ingrained in people – by their families, peers, advertising and television shows.

The result: When the pressure intensifies, corporate leaders, who are overwhelmingly male, fall into a comfort zone, surrounding themselves with people who think like them. And leaders who say they are blind to race and gender typically are worse offenders, Zundl said.

"I think it comes up every day," said Paula Frank, 41, of Linden, who is director of supplier diversity for Roseland-based ADP and lauded her company's commitment to diversity. "There are just things you don't necessarily know you're doing."

There is a lot at stake. Companies need to include women in leadership roles to remain competitive in a global economy in which women make more purchasing decisions for their families, Boyer said.

Not that the Rutgers program was cracking the elusive code, solving discrimination once and for all. But the women said they hoped to leave the program understanding the obstacles they face and where they can turn for support to navigate them.

"When you ask, what are my challenges now, as a 33-year-old female who wants a leadership role, those challenges have been built up for my entire life," Spinella said. "Not challenges, but messages that morph into who I am today. Sometimes overcoming that has been more difficult."